1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an air conditioner having independent cooling and purifying paths. More particularly, the present invention relates to an air conditioner wherein a cooling path, which consists of one or more air suction openings, a first fan, a heat exchanger, and a cooled air discharge opening, is independently formed of a purifying path, which consists of a front suction cover, an air purifier suction opening; a second fan, a pair of purified air discharge openings, and a pair of lateral discharge covers, whereby, in use of the air conditioner, air purifying and room cooling operations can be independently or simultaneously carried out in accordance with a user's selective manipulation.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, air conditioners are representative consumer electronics employing a refrigeration system. The air conditioners may be classified, in accordance with a structure thereof, into integral-type air conditioners in which an indoor unit and an outdoor unit are integrally formed, and separated-type air conditioners in which an indoor unit and an outdoor unit are separated from each other, and also may be classified, in accordance with an installing manner thereof, into floor-standing type air conditioners and wall-mounted type air conditioners.
Among separated-type air conditioners, floor-standing type air conditioners have a higher cooling capability than wall-mounted type air conditioners, and thus, are generally used in relatively large living rooms or offices.
As well known, an air conditioner is an appliance that mainly functions to cool a room. However, there has recently gained popularity a combined air conditioner capable of performing an air purifying function in addition to a cooling function.
A conventional combined air conditioner is generally designed so that an electric dust collector and a mesh filter are mounted on the inside of a suction grill to perform an auxiliary air purifying function.
However, the conventional air conditioner having the above described simple configuration has a problem in that the mesh filter and the dust collector, mounted in the air conditioner, cannot be independently utilize. That is, the mesh filter and the dust collector are operable only during operation of the air conditioner.
This results in several disadvantages including a restriction in a utilization scope of the air conditioner and a necessity of additional electricity consumption.
Furthermore, since the mesh filter has approximately the same size as the suction grill and thus is arranged to cover a suction opening completely, and the electric dust collector is approximately one half the size of the suction grill, the conventional air conditioner achieves poor air purification and dust collection, and suffers from operational noise due to increased flow resistance.
As a solution to overcome the above-described problems, Korean Patent Publication No. 10-2004-0025269 discloses an air conditioner having an air purifying function.
A main facet of the disclosed technology is that an air purifier is mounted in a space defined between an air suction opening and a cooled air discharge opening to allow cooled air to be independently utilized in a region except for a predetermined cooling path and to prevent contamination of the cooled air. With this disclosed technology, it is possible to prevent generation in flow resistance of air and to facilitate installation/separation of the air purifier.
However, the conventional air conditioner has a problem in that a cooling path and a purifying path of the air conditioner are practically joined together in accordance with the structure and characteristics of products, in spite of the fact that an air purifier housing that constitutes the air purifier and a cooler housing that contains a cooling fan are defined individually.